[NY, USA] BOCES, transgender teen face challengeMichael Arone has been called every pejorative someone could direct at a transgender teen.But, while most harassment the 16-year-old West Haverstraw resident faced has been short-lived, Arone reached a breaking point at a summer school program in Clarkstown South High School.Arone, a North Rockland school district 10th-grader, is a male transgender teen who publicly goes by Melissa Andrews and prefers to be referred to as a female.Arone said classmates have routinely called her "faggot," "she-male," "it" and "queer" in response to her wearing eye shadow and lipstick, straightening her shoulder-length brown hair and carrying a purse to school.Photo: (Angela Gaul/The Journal News Angela Gaul/The Journ)

A federal court has held that New York state had the right to stop using Medicaid funds to cover the cost of gender reassignment treatments for a 48-year-old plaintiff who has been living as a woman since the age of 20.

Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel dismissed the case of Terri Casillas, who contended that the state's termination of Medicaid coverage after 24 years violated her federal and constitutional rights.